Wheaton defeats Rivier 79-59 to capture 3rd place in the Williams Winter Classic

Williamstown, MA- Wheaton defeats Rivier 79-59 to capture 3rd place in the Williams Winter Classic. With the win Wheaton improves to 7-4 while Rivier falls to 1-10.

Wheaton had very balanced scoring with only two players in double figures, Jeana Trimboli with 12 points and Natasha Colon Ortiz with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Rivier had three players in double figures, Britney Lane with 18 points Amanda Purcell had 12 and Erin Sweeney had 10.

Jeana Trimboli for Wheaton and Amanda Purcell for Rivier made the all tournament team.

The game started off very uptempo with both teams starting in a press. Wheaton was in a zone press while Rivier was in a man press. Rivier was able to take advantage of Wheaton's press and got some layups in the beginning of the game putting them up 7-4 and forcing a Wheaton timeout with 17:18 remaining in the first half.

Coming out of the timeout Wheaton settled in and went on a 9-0 run putting them up 13-7. After this it became a half court game where Wheaton was able to extend its lead to 30-20 with 2:00 remaining in the half. In the half court Natasha Colon Ortiz started to enforce her will converting on a couple post moves. But Amandra Purcell was able to respond making two tough layups to close out the half, the second one coming with 2 seconds left on the clock, she also got foul and converted the three point play to make the score 30-25 Wheaton entering the half.

Rivier got in foul trouble early on in the second half and Wheaton was able to cash in on the foul shots putting them up 43-31 with 15:00 minutes left in the game. Then both teams got hot. In one series there were four 3's hit in four possessions, two by each team. But Rivier was never able to get back within 10 after falling behind early. With 5:00 minutes left Jeana Trimboli and Nicole Cullinane hit back to back 3's to make the score 71-52 and ice the game.